TESTINGMOTOR-CAR TYRES [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Silt, –I
have had quite a busy time in public lately justifying motor racing on the familiar ground that it provides the engineer with much useful technical data. But if I may say a word more in defence of the profession which I am about to abandon, it is that the ordinary everyday motorist might pick op many ideas for his own comfort and convenience from some of the precautionary measures which at higher speeds are matters of serious importance.
One such idea is suggested by the adoption by about 05 per (IV. of motor-Car manufacturers of the balloon tyre, and, incidentally-, the state of the roads as maintained by the few ha'penee that Mr. Churchill has- left in the Road Fund. It is that motorists should acquire the habit of testing the pressure of their tyreS once a week and seeing that all four are kept up to the specified pressure.
Before I started on my run along Daytona Beach, I had my tyres tested with a gauge, because it was absolutely imperative that each should register 100 lbs. pressure. If low or unequal
pressure, with its adverse effect on balance and steering, is dangerous at racing speeds, it must be at any rate inadvisable at touring speeds.
The bumps caused by too high a pressure are a deterrent to errors in that direction, but there is no such insistent reminder when tyres are too soft or unequal in pressure. Hence the advisability of trusting to the gauge and not guesswork. At touring speed it may not be a matter of saving your life, but it does save your tyres' life. ---I am, Sir. &c.,
Previous page
